


lay all your love on me

by fartootiredtosleep



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Fluff, Karaoke, M/M, One Shot, References to ABBA, no beta we die like men, some italian in there somewhere
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:40:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25905226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fartootiredtosleep/pseuds/fartootiredtosleep
Summary: Joe, somehow, persuades Nicky to do karaoke with him.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 1
Kudos: 76





	lay all your love on me

The opening notes rang out across the crowded bar as Joe jumped onto the stage. Nicky was making his way up the ‘proper’ way, reluctantly climbing the stairs to the two microphones waiting for them, drink still clutched in hand. The instrumental beginning had gained the bar’s attention (a lot of ABBA fans in that night, apparently) and so when Joe grabbed the microphone like he’d been doing this his whole life, a cheer came from the crowd. He grinned. It seemed to have the opposite effect on Nicky, who exhaled deeply through a clenched jaw, eyes closed. They opened and his glare at Andy, Booker, and Nile, sat in a corner, glasses raised, spoke for itself.

There was a table onstage, and he set his glass down as the intro wound up into the first verse. They’d done this many times before, so much that Nicky had begun to join his husband in calling it ‘their song’, as unwilling as he was to give it that title. He’d much rather give the title to the song that played at their wedding, but as Joe had pointed out, it’s difficult to karaoke _O Rosa Bella_. Truth was, the song was starting to grow on him, especially when he got to watch his husband sing- no, perform it. 'It’s ABBA, it demands a performance', Andy had once said. She was right.

‘ _I wasn’t jealous before we met_ ,’ Joe began, winking at Nicky before singing out to the audience. ‘ _Now every man that I see is a potential threat_.’ He karate-chopped on the two beats, mimicking the movie version of the song. They had seen it a total of six times in cinema when it came out. An excessive amount to Nicky, an insufficient one to Joe.

He acted out the lyrics to the first verse, knowing that the audience were loving it. It was far too short for Nicky’s liking. After taking one last-minute swig of his drink, almost missing the table when he went to put it back down, he gripped the mic and waited for Joe to finish drawing out his ‘ _I beg of you_.’

‘ _Don’t go wasting your emotion, lay all your love on me_.’

They locked eyes on the last note and Nicky felt something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Right then, he made a decision. Maybe it was the stupid catchy ABBA song, maybe it was the love of his life standing a foot away from him, maybe it was even the alcohol making him a little more relaxed than he had been for a while. Maybe it was all three, or something else entirely.

Whatever it was, it made him start singing when the second verse began, surprising Joe into silence. Usually, even though he constantly convinced Nicky to go on stage with him, he only made him sing the chorus. Singing an ABBA song of his own volition, that was something he’d never thought would happen. The thing we do for the ones we love, eh?

He stumbled his way through the second verse, the effects of the alcohol and lack of practice covered up by his enthusiasm, which was growing by the second. The audience didn’t care (after all, no one goes to a karaoke bar expecting much), and Joe definitely didn’t. And when Nicky pulled the mic from it’s stand and walked up and down the stage, pointing to random people and singing to them, the look the taller man gave him was indescribable, proved by the trio at the table trying and failing to put it into words every time they retold the story. Somewhere between disbelief and absolute infatuation, something so precise there wasn't a word for it.

Right before the second chorus, he turned to Joe and returned the wink from the beginning of the song. Joe just stood, dumbfounded, almost forgetting to join in singing. After a few lines he regained his composure, and they performed the last part of the song together. It was almost like when they fought together, moving in sync, anticipating what the other was about to do, back and forth.

But the lack of threat of death, however impermanent, made for a better atmosphere than battle, and the only reason Nicky didn’t burst out laughing at himself at the end of the song was because Joe immediately pulled him into a kiss. It caused a cheer from the crowd, but neither of them could really hear it. Nicky was the one to pull away and Joe had to stop himself from chasing his lips as they moved away.

“ _Ti amo, Yusuf_.” The Italian murmured, his forehead resting against Joe’s. His eyes were still closed, voice barely audible above the clamour of the bar, above calls for the next song and drink orders, the audience already having moved on, letting them have their privacy.

“ _Ti amo anch’io, Nicoló_.” They stayed like that for a moment, before Joe pulled away and looked into Nicky’s eyes. “I can not believe you sang ABBA for me.”

Nicky held his gaze for a few seconds. Then he buried his face into his hands. “Oh, _dio_. I did. Why- why did I do that?”

“Because you love me, fool.”

He slung his arm round the shorter man’s shoulders and started to guide him down the stairs and back towards their table. They had to pause several times for Nicky to steady himself (he really had drunk too much). They eventually reached the others, and were greeted by a round of applause that made them both grin, although Joe’s face didn’t go nearly as red as Nicky’s.

**Author's Note:**

> first fic kinda nervous, but it's got abba in it, so it can't be that bad.  
> leave a comment or message me, the cravings for interaction are through the roof over here  
> tumblr is @manofmayonnaise


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